The Forgotten Few - A Survival Tale
by Anthony Rizzano
Summary: In the 7 Days to Die city of Navezgane, this is the accounting of a group of 5 people who found each other and survive the zombie apocalypse together.
1. Chapter 1 - The Beginning

**PROLOGUE**

We are few, yet we are many. We are remembered, yet we are forgotten. We are together, yet we are alone. We are surviving, yet we are perishing. We are living, yet we are dying.

We are few because there are only five of us, yet we are many because in the world as it exists now, people are rare, few and far between, and five surviving together can mean the difference between another night of _staying_ alive versus being _eaten_ alive.

We are remembered because we have constant reminders of ourselves, battling our own humanity, sometimes on a minute by minute basis, trying to hold on to that little part of us left that reminds us we are human. Yet, we are forgotten because for a while the military air transports would come and rescue survivors, constantly giving us hope that we would be next, but it was always someone else, always some other group, getting out, getting safe, getting help. Then they just stopped coming, and we were left here, are left here, together yet alone.

Together because we exist as a community, searching, scavenging, looting, fighting, running, all in desperate attempts to find that one place we can call home, where we can be safe from the turmoil and terror that runs rampant in the world. Yet, we are alone because we have all lost our loved ones, have all lost our friends, and the only thing that keeps us going is the hope, no the prayer, that one day, somehow, some way, it will be all over and things can return to some semblance of normal.

We are surviving because we exist as a coherent unit, working together, watching each other's backs so that not one person is left behind or surprised by the monsters that yearn for our flesh, because if we lose one, if we go down to four, that's less eyes to keep watch. Yet, we are perishing because we all are slowly deteriorating due to lack of proper nutrition, lack of medicinal items, lack of _sanity_!

We are living because we are still here, fighting the fight, and we live on day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, second by second, because that's what we have to do, for ourselves, and for each other. Yet we are dying because each second that passes on, each minute that ticks by, each hour that continues on, and each day that comes around, WE, not them, are the walking dead. Sooner or later, someone will get eaten. Their numbers are too many, their hunger too strong, their thirst too great.

We are few, yet we are many. We are remembered, yet we are forgotten. We are together, yet we are alone. We are surviving, yet we are perishing. We are living, yet we are dying.

We are the forgotten, we are the few, we are together, surviving and living. We are **The Forgotten Few** , and this is our story.

 **CHAPTER ONE**

It started off as a morning just like any other morning in the springtime, warm, breezy, and full of life. I had finished my shift at work, a 24-hour gaming center where people could come in and pay by the hour to play Computer, PlayStation 4, XBOX One, or Nintendo Wii U games. It wasn't a glamorous job by any stretch of the means, but I loved gaming, and the job was right up my alley.

I stopped off at Stirbucks to grab a frappuccino on the way home because my morning ritual usually consisted of a couple of hours of gaming before I hit the bed.

I walked in the door and my wife, Natalie, was getting ready for work. She was an Emergency and Disaster Management Specialist here where we lived in Navezgane, Arizona, and she loved her job.

I kissed her on the cheek as she headed out the door. Little did I know that would be the second to last time I would ever see her again.

I sat down to my computer and booted up _A Week to Perish_ , a post-apocalyptic zombie survival game where you had to manage a town of survivalists and assign them jobs so they could learn skills based on their jobs. For instance, my main character, Drazzle, was the metal-smith of the group and could fashion things like blades, maces, shields and so on. Another person, my "wife" Natalia, was a medic, and did things like tend to others wounds, make medicine and bandages, and cook up alcohol for sterilization.

I was in the middle of assigning resource gathering tasks to a new member of my game's community when my real life front door burst open.

In walked a man in a hazmat suit. "Time to go sir! Shit is hitting the fan and you have to vacate to a safe area, **now**!" he yelled, quite angrily I might add.

"What the fuck! What the hell do you mean?" I asked as the man was grabbing me by my arm rather forcefully and pulling me toward the door.

"No time to explain sir, except to say there is a city wide disaster happening and we need to get everyone we can to safety!"

I looked at his suit and then realized, "Hey wait a minute, do I need a suit too?"

"You'll be fine sir, let's go!" he replied as he kept pulling me toward the door.

"Wait a second, I need supplies, my medicine, my kids are in school, I need to go get..." I exclaimed in a panic.

"No offense sir, but there's no time for any of that. There will be supplies and doctors where you're going, and the schools are already evacuated, now let's fucking move! Now!"

We left my house and I pulled out my phone to call Natalie, but a frantic woman that was running toward us ran into me and knocked my phone to the ground, breaking it apart and the battery bounced off the pavement and fell into a puddle. I bent down to begin picking up the pieces and was interrupted by 2 more people in hazmat suits. They picked me up and physically loaded me into the back of what looked like some type of worker's van. They sat me down on the floor, one of the men taking out what looked like a walkie or some sort of radio, and as I started to protest, he told me to, in so many words, shut the fuck up so he could hear.

There were what sounded like repeat messages being broadcast but I really couldn't make out much more than "outbreak" "flesh", and "quarantine." What the actual fuck was going on?

There were 2 other people who had already been inside the van sitting down as well. They had their phones out and looked like they were constantly trying to reach people, to no avail.

The van began moving, slamming on the gas because we jolted forward rather abruptly before we moved on to a more consistent yet quick speed. "Where are we..." I started to inquire, but was answered with a loud, "Somewhere safe, now keep quiet."

After about what seemed like 15 minutes of very fast and reckless driving, we stopped.

"All right people, we need you to step out and get in line with the others." the one with the radio instructed.

"What's the line..."

I was glared at and told to shut the fuck up, this time, in exact words.

The van door was opened and as we stepped out, the 2 that were with me were stripped of their phones despite great protest. As I looked around, I surveyed that there were dozens of people in the line we got in. There were also fences and walls all over with people on the other side trying to get in. Other people were being escorted, well, more like pushed and shoved, no, forced by what looked like soldiers with guns and hazmat masks, through a gate leading to the other side of the wall and fences.

The line we were in led to a tent. People near the tent were being removed of their clothing, and those even closer to the tent were standing in their underwear. Squinting my eyes, I could just make out a metal structure with 2 large free standing panels inside the tent. It reminded me of some sort of vertical M.R.I. machine which looked like it was scanning and spraying the people that stepped into it.

"Hey man, do you know what the hell is going on?" a man behind me asked.

I turned to him. "Some sort of disaster, something about shit hitting the fan, safe zone, outbreak, or something." I said to him. "Hey, can I use your phone to call my wife?"

"Sorry man, they took my phone, and several others too."

"Damn it!" I cursed under my breath. "I really need to make sure my wife is okay and see if she can find out where our kids are at!"

The line inched forward a bit, and I noticed a soldier walking toward the back of the line near us. I waved him over to get his attention. "Sir, do you have a phone I can use?"

"He looked at me with pity in his eyes. "I'm sorry man, but the orders are no phones."

I reached out to his arm. "Come on man, have a heart. Don't you have a wife, kids?"

"Three kids as a matter of fact." He replied, looking worried.

"And are they safe?" I asked, hoping for an answer I could use to my advantage, not wishing his kids were not safe, but hoping maybe he was in the same predicament I was.

"Honestly, I don't know. My wife doesn't know either." He answered, the worry on his face increasing.

"But at least you've talked to your wife. Come on man, I'm in the same boat, and I need to call my wife and see if she can find out about our children." I looked pleadingly into his eyes, with little hope that it would matter because soldiers are usually pretty strict. After all, orders are orders.

He looked all around, checking to see if there were any other soldiers near, and sighed, his body displaying the signs of giving in. He pulled out his phone. "Look man, I can get in serious trouble for this, so you have 60 seconds, that's it."

Relief hit my face like a cool, summer breeze. "Thank you, sir, you are a good man!" I offered, and took the phone. I dialed my wife's number and waited. She picked up!

"Hello?" she answered, panic in her voice.

"Honey! It's me! Are you okay? Are the kids okay?"

After what seemed like forever, she answered, but I could only make out part of what she was saying. "Kids…." Silence. "..were told to go….." Again, silence. "…safe zone….." More silence. "…quarantined off and told we can't…." That was it, the connection was dropped.

"Fuck!" I started to redial.

"Sargent Sorrow!" someone yelled out.

"Shit that's me!" the soldier who let me use his phone said. "Sorry man, that's all you get, I gotta go!" He took his phone back and headed off toward the front of the line to the guy that was calling out to him.

That's it. I knew nothing! I had no clue if she was safe, if our kids were safe, what the fuck was going on, why we were here, why some people were separated behind walls and other's behind a fence, nothing.

We moved forward, and a man in a hazmat suit exited from the tent and looked at me. "Sir, get undressed down to your skivvies!"

Having seen a few others who had already protested, only to have a couple of soldiers forcibly remove their clothes, I submitted in silence. My clothes were placed in a big yellow garbage-like bag and I was ushered into the tent. One guy in front of was in the vertical machine. Some lights scanned his body and then sprayed him with some type of mist. The man was then escorted out of the tent and given what looked like fatigues, and sent off the right toward the fences. Beyond the fence was a medic area, where it looked like people were being given some sort of shot or injection. People beyond the medic tent were being loaded into long military trucks in mass groups, and some trucks were just leaving.

The next guy in front of me stepped into the machine, and like the other, was scanned. The hazmat guy who had ushered me inside the tent shook his head at another guy in the same type of suit. I noticed the machine did not spray this guy. He was ushered out of the tent, given what appeared to be paper thin hospital scrubs, and sent to the left toward the gate. He was yelling something about unfairly and being separated from his brother, and then forced by two soldiers to go through the gate, which was quickly even though people on the other side were clamoring to get back in.

My turn was next. I stepped into the machine and submitted to the scan. I intently watched the movements of the man staring at the screen attached to the machine. He gave the other man a thumbs down, and I too, was not sprayed. I was then quickly escorted out of the tent, given the same paper scrubs, and the soldiers were about to steer me toward the gate, when I saw her. Natalie! My wife! She was on the other side of the fence looking right at me. She had her mouth open and was clearly yelling but I couldn't hear her because screams started coming from the within the fence.

People were running up on other people and their mouths went right to their faces. They were biting them, chewing, snarling, eating! They were _eating_ them! Wasn't there food behind that fence? Are the people that hungry already that they are resorting to cannibalism that quickly?

Then I noticed their skin. Their flesh was wounded and decayed, pieces of skin hanging off, and I suddenly realized. Outbreak, disaster, quarantine. These were zombies, just like my game, _A Week to Perish! WHAT. THE. FUCK!_

Clearly the people put inside the fence were "safe" in the scans, and were being given medicine, probably antibiotics, and clothes, and being transported to somewhere probably more secure. Clearly the group I was in, the ones deemed not safe from the scans, were being give sh*t clothes in the form of paper scrubs and being quarantined behind the walls.

My epiphany was interrupted suddenly as a loud noise erupted at the fence and part of it fell down. Some of the people starting running through away from the zombies, some of which chased the people, and some of which started pouring in toward us at the tent, and at the same time, out of nowhere Sorrow, the soldier that had earlier let me use his phone, appeared in front of me, his back toward the broken fence. "Come on man, we gotta move to the walls now!" Ignoring his words, I moved him aside and looked again toward the fence. My wife was part of the people coming in! She was coming toward me, and I started moving toward her. There were zombies behind her, but there was one in particular right on her tail!

"Look out Natalie!" I yelled, and she started to turn, but it was too little too late. The zombie grabbed her, and she and it started falling into me, the zombie's mouth wide open and nearing my chest!

Sorrow turned toward me after I had yelled out all he saw were two bodies among the few others a little farther back falling right into me, and he opened fire. The first shot hit the zombie right in the eye, hitting him in such a way that he fell on the ground near and I was no longer in danger of being bitten. The second shot Sorrow fired hit my wife in the chest and knocked her off of me. "Let's go!" he yelled, "Next time I might not be able to save your life!"

"What the fuck man, that's my wife! She was running from the zombie!"

"Oh shit," he exclaimed, grabbing me, "I'm sorry but we _have_ to go now or we will be dead!"

I started reaching down to my wife, who was already being eaten alive by the zombie he shot but clearly was not dead. Sorrow was strong and started dragging me away toward the wall, and all I could see as I was being taken away from my wife was the rest of the zombies descending upon her and consuming her flesh and organs in some attempt to satiate their yearning.

I had to snap to it because from the side of us, a couple of more zombies were coming. We were at the gate and the other two soldiers were firing at them. Other people in fatigues came up demanding the gate be opened, and they were refusing to comply. They looked as us and shook their head, refusing us as well. "Look sirs, if we all don't get behind that gate they are going to overrun us and kill us all!"

"No way Sargent, orders are orders!" came robot-life emotionless reply. "Step away!"

"Shit! I was afraid of this!" Sorrow exclaimed as he readied his weapon, aimed at the soldiers. "Don't make me do this, sirs! I'm sorry but it's us or you. Either you let us in so we don't die, or I kill you and we get in and don't die."

"You are out of line, Sargent!" retorted the clearly outranking soldier. "Lower your weapon, now, or else!"

"Aw hell," Sorrow said quietly, "this is where it begins. With his gun aimed at the head of the first soldier, he fired a shot. It didn't hit him, but hit the wall right next to his head. "The next one goes in your skull!"

The soldiers began to raise their weapons, and without a delay, Sorrow fired two rounds off, one in each of the arms of the soldiers, which caused them to drop their guns. "I _don't_ want to kill you, but let us in now!" He yelled as he moved us to the gate's controls. He pushed the button to open the gate, and that's when a third soldier showed up out of nowhere and hit us both in the head with the butt of his weapon, knocking us out!


	2. Chapter 2 - Naked and Afraid

**CHAPTER TWO**

I slowly started to stir, not yet opening my eyes, but I immediately knew two things. It was bright, and it was chilly. I raised my head and widened my eyes and saw that I had nothing but my boxers on. I looked around, worried about the zombies that were pouring in, at least according to what I last recalled, but there was nothing, no one. I saw I was in a forest of some kind, somewhere that I did not recognize. But why the hell was I naked?

I sat up and looked to my left, and I saw a backpack on the ground. Weird. I opened it, and inside I found a torch, a bottle of water, a can of lamb rations with a pull tab top, a bandage, and some sort of carpenter's belt type thing that had 7 or 8 pockets and loops in it. That's it. I had nothing else, in the middle of nowhere, with no one else around, with no way to know where the hell I was.

Wait a second, there was something smaller in the backpack, something metal. I reached down in the bottom and pulled out what appeared to be some type of compass. I had never used one before, but it couldn't be that hard to figure out, right?

I stood up and then suddenly I remembered. She was gone. She was dead. She was shot by that fcking soldier, Sorrow. She was eaten. She was gone. I sobbed, finally taking a moment to try to come to terms with it, with my situation, and then my thoughts drifted to my kids. The schools had been evacuated, but were they safe. I had to get moving, to get somewhere.

I walked, and I walked. I found a few trash bags laying around, and never thought to look in them until I saw a book sticking out of one. I pulled it out and it was an instructional book on how to how to skin an animal and turn it's hide into leather. I don't really know why, but I put it in my bag.

I kept walking, and happened upon duffel bag. Inside were 3 bottles of water and 2 cans of lamb rations.

Other than the garbage and the duffel bag, I found nothing else. I found no one. No person, no civilization, no buildings, nothing. I had no phone, no way to communicate with anyone, no way to call for help, not that anyone would respond, I thought.

'How long had I been knocked out?' I wondered. And who dropped me here in the middle of god knows where and stripped me of my clothes but yet left me a little food, water, a light source, and a bandage? At least the left me the dignity of my underwear.

My thoughts were interrupted by a sound coming from the side of me. Some bushes stirred. I stood completely still, not sure what to do. Was it a person? Was it one of _them_? Was it safe?

Finally, I mustered the courage to call out. "Hello? Anyone there?" The bushes shook, and out ran a chicken. In the middle of the forest, a god damned chicken.

It was then that the other entity that was near decided to make its presence known. I was grabbed from behind, and I turned around, and a zombie was there, wanting to chew me up!

I stumbled back, shocked for a moment, then realized I'd better high-tail it away! I started running as fast as my two legs could go, through the bushes, through the trees, and I kept running and running. I ran so much I almost felt like Forrest Gump.

My breath became heavy and short and I realized I must have been running for who knows how long, so I stopped, took a chance, and turned around. Nothing. There was no zombie chasing me. Phew!

I turned back around to keep heading in the direction I had been going, and it was then that I saw **HIM**.

He looked right back at me, pity and sorrow in his eyes, full of regret and remorse.

I started to open my mouth, but I really didn't know what to say. I wanted to cuss him out. I wanted to scream and yell at him. Hell, I wanted to tackle him down and beat the living shit out of him, but I didn't. Why? I don't really know. Maybe because deep down somewhere in the depths of my subconscious, I knew that he hadn't meant it. It wasn't intentional, it was a messy situation and I guess I could see that from where he had stood it must have looked like a group of zombies coming at me.

But still, he shot her. He put a bullet in her chest, and then the b*stard pulled me away. I could have saved her! She might not have been dead! I could have carried her with us to the gate! There was a chance!

Wasn't there?

I mean, she wasn't eaten alive was she? I hadn't heard her scream when they started ripping her precious skin and tissue from her bones. Had she been dead?

Still, he shot her, and that was enough. He caused her death, even if it was the zombies that killed her.

"Hey man, you have no idea how sorry..." I put my hand up.

"Don't you even say it. I don't want to hear that word come out of your mouth. I could have fought that zombie off enough for her and I to get away. I could have protected her. I could have saved her, and she would be with me here, now. But no. You had to open fire. You had to shoot. You shot her. You killed her. You took away my life, my love, my reason for living. You took away my soul. You killed her. You fucking bastard."

Surprisingly, I had said all that in a calm voice, which kind of scared me, because I should be raging. I should be killing him, taking him to the ground, choking the life out of him. Yet I was eerily calm. Stern in my voice, but calm. That really did scare me.

He opened his mouth to speak. I put my hand up again. "What on earth do you think you could possibly say to me that would be of any good, hmm? What the hell do you think could come out your mouth that could make anything better?"

"Look man, I know you're pissed. I know you're hurt, but all I saw when I turned around was two bodies falling into you. One was for sure a zombie, and the other had her back to me and I had no way, no way at all of knowing she was not another zombie. I thought you were dead. Hell, you were dead. That zombie was getting ready to eat your chest. Like it or not, despite the unfortunate circumstance, I saved your fucking life. I shot that zombie and he didn't eat you. I got you to the gate. What the fuck happened after….."

He kept talking but I stopped listening. I could feel the anger finally building. It was boiling, and I was near explosion.

"…that if I hadn't done it, you would be dead, and maybe I would too.

"Unfortunate? UNFORTUNATE?" I yelled. You kill my wife, and you call it unfortunate? You know what Sorrow, mister react on the fly military hotshot, mister 'I saved your life.' FUCK YOU! You know I am pissed? You have NO idea. You know I am hurt? You know nothing about hurt. I lost her, not you. She was my wife, not yours. You saved my life? What a fucking joke, man! You didn't save my life, you killed it. You killed me. I am dead without her." I fell to the ground, sitting down and started sobbing into my hands. "I am dead without her….."

It was silent for what seemed like eons. Then he walked over to me and stood over me, and it was only then that I really realized that he, too, had the same type of backpack I did, and that he too, was not clothed. He had no uniform on, no gun, no hat, no, he was in his camo underwear, just like me. And that underwear was right near my head.

"Can you please get your junk away from my face? Seriously?"

We both kind of chuckled, awkwardly and halfheartedly, and he backed up. "Sorry."

I stood up, brushed my legs off, and stared at the sky. It had to be about 5ish in the afternoon. I had been walking all day. I took the water out of my backpack and took a sip, then replaced it.

My eyes finally settled on him, and that's when he spoke again, and this time, I didn't put up my hand.

"Look, uh, sir? Hell I don't ever recall getting your name."

"Rizzano. Just Rizzano."

"Look, Rizz, you're…"

"No, I said it's Rizzano. Only my friends call me Rizz, and you are very much not my friend."

"Right, sorry, Rizzano. Look, you're right. I have no idea how pissed you are. NO idea. And you have every right to be. EVERY right. But I do know hurt. I do know pain. Before I got assigned to that tent outpost, I had been searching for my kids. When I told you my wife didn't know where they were, it wasn't because I had talked to her. It was because she was dead. One of those THINGS ate her face, and I wasn't there to stop it. My brother called me and told me, witnessed it, and was crying to me because instead of trying to save her, he ran. And that made me angry, that made me PISSED. But you're right, I don't know how pissed you are, and I don't blame you for being that way, but I lost my soul too, my life, my everything."

How dare he try to show he's as human as I am and make me feel sorry for him, I thought.

He continued on. "You have no idea how deeply sorry I am, how truly remorseful I feel for shooting her, but I am certain I didn't kill her. I shot her on the right side, not anywhere near her heart or any vital organs."

Oh, I was fuming again. Just when I thought I had calmed down. "Do you hear yourself? You shot her in the chest, in the right side, so she was still alive when she fell. You should have let me pick her up and carry her! You should have let me save her! There was a chance we could have made it together!"

"Look, Rizzano, those zombies were right on top of her when she fell to the ground. There was no time to play the hero, no time to spend grabbing her and picking her up, and there was no time to stand around and mourn. We had to move. We would have been next!"

I opened up my mouth to argue, but deep down I knew he was right. I was pissed, and I didn't want to admit it, but he was right. She fell, and within mere seconds she was being eaten. I KNOW he didn't mean to shoot her, but I just didn't care. It was unfair.

"Look, I don't want to talk about it anymore. I don't know where I am, or where I am going, but I can't just stand here with you anymore. I am wasting precious time looking for some type of civilization to where I can try somehow to track down my kids. So excuse me, but I have to go." I walked past him in the direction I had been going all day.

"Um, Rizzano, I came from that way. For miles. All day I walked, from that direction. There's nothing back there."

I stopped, turned, and looked at him. F*ck him for helping me.

"Fine then I'll go uh…."I pulled out my compass and fidgeted with it. Then I pointed. "That way, east. Yeah."

Sorrow chuckled.

"What?" I said, looking indignant.

"That's direction you're pointing is south west. You're using that compass all wrong. Here, let me show you." Reluctantly, I handed him the compass and he showed and explained to me how to use it and read it.

Without any gratitude, I started walking south west. I walked about 10 steps, stopped, sighed, and turned around to him. "F*uck!" I said out loud.

"Problems?" Sorrow asked.

Sighing again, I replied, "I guess, if you want, we should stick together. Like it or not, it's better to have someone to be with to watch each other's back, and you have skills that I just don't have. Training that could be useful. And I see you have a knife. Was that in your back pack?"

"No, I found it in a hollow tree stump, of all places."

"Well, anyhow, even though I hate your guts, you can help me. I did find a little food and water. Do you have any?" I asked.

"Only the bottle of water and can of lamb rations that came in the backpack." He said as he pulled them out. "Oh and this torch and bandage, but no, nothing else.

"Well then you help me, and I'll share my extra food and water."

"Sounds like a plan then. To the south west?"

"To the south west."


	3. Chapter 3 - Canine Surprise

**CHAPTER THREE**

We had walked, south west, for a little while when we noticed a clearing up ahead in the trees. There was some sort of shape but the distance was too far to make out what it was, but we were hopeful. Perhaps a house? Perhaps the edge of a town or city? Were we even close to Navezgane anymore? So many unanswered questions.

As we made progress toward the shape we heard a faint sound that got louder as each second passed. It sounded like an engine of some kind, and we looked around, then glanced over the sky. "Look, there!" I pointed. We could just make out above the trees, a plane. It was pretty low, and looked like a military plane. Were they here for us? Was anyone looking for us?

We had absolutely nothing to signal it, and the way we were still inside the dense forest, they would have never noticed us anyway, but we made a break for the clearing, hoping that the plane would come back around by the time we got to the clearing.

We ran as fast as we could, and the clearing got closer, as did the shape in the distance. It looked like a storefront of some kind. There was a massive sign in front of it but we couldn't read it yet. The sound of the plane was fading, but we still had high hopes that it would come back around.

We ran faster, pushing ourselves harder! The sign became legible now, and it read "Shamway." That was a food store popular on the east side of Arizona. Navezgane was on the west side, so that told me we were not anywhere close to it.

We kept moving forward and saw bodies. Were they human? Were they zombies?

We got to the store and we heard the plane's engine start getting louder again. We saw a ladder to the roof of the Shamway so we climbed it and hoped the plane could spot us. While we were up there, we could see now that the bodies walking around were zombies, but off in the distance, we saw other buildings with other bodies around them. Just beyond that, we saw small dirt airstrip and the plane was landing on it. There were people waiting. Sh*t, we had to get down and run like hell to that plane!

Everything happened so fast. We got to the bottom of the ladder and out of nowhere a dog was upon us. First one, then another, then a third. One grabbed a hold of my boxers, the other two focused on Sorrow, who was fighting them off as best he could with the knife. I kicked at the one who was trying to bite me, but it seemed to just make it mad.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spied something long sticking out of a trash can next to me. I didn't care what it was, I grabbed it and swung at the dog's head. Only then did I realize it was some type of modified spiked club. The dog's head split at the top and he fell to the ground. I turned my attention to the other dogs, attacking the one Sorrow wasn't attacking. It was quicker than me and managed to dodge my swing enough to where I only hit it in its body. It caused quite a wound, but it only managed to piss it off even more.

Sorrow finally stabbed the dog he was fighting in the eye and it was taken out of commission. Together we attacked the remaining dog, me swinging wildly with the club, Sorrow jabbing the knife at its back, and we managed to kill it.

Taking a breath, we remembered the plane. We booked it around the corner and onto the street leading to the airstrip, but the plane was already taking off. The people were gone, obviously getting on the plane.

It was in that moment that we realized this we might be f*cked. We were stranded who knew where, and we had no clue if there were more people around somewhere, and if and when another plane would return.

"Well, let's check out these buildings. Maybe there's a working phone somewhere, or maybe someone has a cell phone we can use." I said.

"Okay, how about the house across the street? Let's knock and see what happens."

"It's all boarded up, I doubt anyone would answer. Let's check the Shamway." I retorted.

"Okay, that's just a good as place as any to start." Sorrow answered.

We went back to the Shamway, this time to the front. We peered in through the barred windows. It was dim inside, but we could see that there was no one in there. Not a soul, and we could see the shelves were empty.

"Well, I doubt it's worth going in there, and how the hell would we get in anyway?" I said, pulling the water out of my pack. I grabbed a couple of drinks and returned it. "Let's just start going from house to house, check the other stores, see what we see."

So that's what we did. We spent several hours looking around at all the buildings. Most were all boarded up, but what we could see inside of some, the town was deserted. Evacuated. Not a person was left here. We did find a few zombies but mostly loners and we were able to dispatch them fairly easily.

It was also getting dark. "Well, we're pretty much stranded here, we better make the best of it. We need to get into that Shamway and see if there's anything left in there."

I walked over near a tree and bent down, grabbing grass off the ground.

"What are you doing?" Sorrow asked.

"I'm going to gather materials to make a stone axe. I saw a video of a guy on YouTube and he showed exactly how to do it. We need it to break the door down to the Shamway."

"That will take forever, it's nearly dark." Sorrow replied.

"Which is why we gotta make this quick." I said.

I started twisting the fibers of the grass like the guy on YouTube did. I then looked for a stone. Ah, there was one, perfect sized. Then I searched for the right kind of wood. If I had been mad I would have just started punching the tree and see what happened, but I wasn't ludicrous.

"I'm gonna search these cars." Said Sorrow.

I found the right piece of wood and started grinding an area of it with the stone, slowly creating a hole. This was not going be easy.

"Hey," came Sorrow, jogging back to me. "This will do, eh?" He was holding a pickaxe.

"Wow, great find man! Where was it?"

"In the trunk of that Sedan over there." He said.

We walked back to the Shamway. We could hear moans and growls in the distance and new the natives were getting restless. We needed to spend the night here, probably on the roof.

Sorrow took the pickaxe and started wailing on one of the metal bars at the window. I heard footsteps behind us and I readied the spiked club I had found earlier. Turning around I said, "We got company. Just keep hacking away I'll take care of it."

Sure enough, a zombie who had obviously been a nurse before she turned, came running up. RUNNING. They can run?

I wacked at her head, knocking her back and she fell, laying there motionless. Well that was easy. I turned my attention back to Sorrow, who had almost gotten through.

The next thing I knew; I was scratched on the back. I quickly turned around. It was the nurse zombie! I thought I had killed her, she had fallen and looked dead. I split her head open this time with the club, and she fell again.

Sorrow glanced back. "You get her? Might wanna check her for anything, maybe she has some meds or something, she is a nurse after all."

Ugh, I did NOT want to search a zombie, they stink so bad, and their skin was rotting, but reluctantly, I searched her pockets. I found a bottle with 2 blue and white pills in it. The bottle said "Amoxicillin." From my wife's brief stint as a medical assistant, I had heard her speak of this medicine before, so I know it was an antibiotic. I put the bottle in my backpack and search the nurse's other picket. There was another bottle with 1 white pill in it. It said "Acetaminophen." Which I knew was Tylenol. I kept that too.

I heard glass break. I turned back to Sorrow. "We're in!" he said.

"Good. The nurse had Tylenol and antibiotics. I put 'em in my bag, never know if we will need them or not, but better to not leave 'em behind."

"Right," he said, climbing in the window. "Let's check this place out."

I climbed in and immediately searched for a phone. I found a landline but there was no dial tone. D*mn it. Sorrow had started hacking away at a crate that was in the corner. I searched a nearby filing cabinet. I found a few pieces of paper. Well, what the hell, maybe for a fire or something. I put them in my bag and continued searching, finding a couple of drink coolers. Inside was 2 bottles of water and 2 bottles of beer. I don't drink, but Sorrow might, so I put them all in my bag."

"Found some food!" Sorrow said, the crate bursting open. "2 cans of Sham and a can of salmon, all with pull tops." Thank god we didn't need a can opener.

We searched the rest of the place and found a few corn seeds, which we kept because we had to start thinking about if we were stuck here long term. We found 3 more cans of Sham, 2 more cans of salmon, a can of pork rations, and two tins of dog food as far as food went. We also found 3 more bottles of water, 2 more bottles of beer, and 3 empty bottles. We took it all and headed back outside to get to the roof.

We had been stupid and gotten nothing to start a fire, so we were stuck in the dark all night. We also had nothing to sleep on, but we were both tired as hell. It had to be about 11:00 pm or so by the time we had gotten up here. We each put our packs on the ground and laid down, using them as pillows as best we could. We needed to sleep because tomorrow as going to be another long day.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Gathering

I awoke with a start, sitting straight up, finally realizing where I was. Sorrow was still asleep. It was barely light out.

I grabbed a can of salmon out of my pack, and the book I had gotten out of the trash yesterday. "Leather Tanning" was the title, and it was an instructional book on how to skin animals and turn their hides into leather. Well, if we were stuck here for a time, it might be good to learn a thing or two, so I started reading.

After about an hour or so, Sorrow stirred. What the hell was I doing with him? I hated him. Hated what he did. Did I really need to work with this guy?

At that moment, out of nowhere, a giant hornet was upon me, trying desperately to stab my face with its giant stinger. It was about 1/3rd the size of me. Without hesitation, Sorrow stabbed it in the back and took it down, saving my life. I guess that answered my question.

"Uh, thanks." I said, shaken up. "It isn't enough to have wild dogs and zombies, but now we have giant bees too?"

"Yeah, really." Sorrow said, wiping off his knife with his shirt.

We sat for a minute so he could eat and drink. "I think we should think about the long-term. We need to find some clothes, weapons, we need to loot all these buildings and find a place to settle until that plane comes back."

"Sounds like a plan." Sorrow replied.

We stood up and grabbed our packs and climbed down the ladder. The Shamway was cleaned out, so we headed to the house across from it. Sorrow used his pickaxe to bust open the windows and we climbed in.

He went upstairs, I stayed down. I headed to the phone I saw on the wall, but of course, as I expected, it was dead.

I searched the kitchen, going through the stove, cupboards, and the fridge. In the stove there was a pipe and a cooking pot. Not sure what use the pipe had, but I supposed if nothing else it could be a blunt weapon in an emergency, so I grabbed it along with the pot. The cupboards yielded a few empty jars and cans, and a can of cat food. Reluctantly I took it all, even the cat food, because who knew how much food we would find.

There was a room off of the kitchen, under the stairs. Small but room for something, so I stepped in and was hit with most horrific smell. There was a half-eaten dead corpse lying in the corner. Hating myself for it, I bent down to search his pockets, because you never know what you might find, and I am glad I did because I discovered 9mm bullets, 11 of them.

I went back to the living room where we broke in at and off of that was a bathroom. I checked the medicine cabinet and sink, but nothing was there. There was a toilet as well, which was fine because I had to urinate, and I'd rather do it inside then out. I opened the lid and…."What the f*ck?" I said out loud. There was a f*cking 9mm pistol in the toilet.

Sorrow came in, obviously done from upstairs. "Hey, find anything?" I pointed to the pistol. "Well, what are you waiting for? Fish it out."

"Uh-uh," I said. "I searched the nurse zombie yesterday and a f*cking rotting corpse in a room off of the kitchen. It's YOUR turn to do something nasty."

"Fine." He said. I just noticed he was wearing a shirt, and he was holding another. He started wrapping his hand up.

"No no, that shirt is for me right? Don't use that sh*t for that sh*t. Use your bare hands, I want a shirt, too." Sighing, he handed me the shirt and fished the pistol out of the toilet. "I found some ammo on the corpse, so this should come in handy."

He checked the chamber. "15 rounds in here. How much ammo did you find?"

"11 bullets, so we got 26 shots. Not bad, should be useful. You find anything else other than the shirts?"

Opening his pack, he pulled out a blueprint. "Schematic for a wrench. Needs 7 short iron pipes."

"Interesting. Guess we better keep a look out for them then, we can use the wrench to take stuff apart and get materials. We ought to make one of these house our base, and this one's just as good as any."

"Wouldn't it be better to establish a base closer to the airstrip?" He asked.

"Yeah, you got a good point." I said. D*mn, why didn't I think of that? Why did he have to be so helpful? "I get the gun, I found it and the ammo, you already got the knife."

"No. Tell me, which one of us has military training?" He inquired.

"I used to shoot guns with my dad when I was younger, I know how they work," I replied.

"I fished it out of the freakin' toilet. No, I get the gun."

"We are sticking together anyway, so it really doesn't matter who has it."

"Tell you what, I found this casino coin upstairs. Flip for it?"

"Okay, I call heads." He flipped and it landed on tails. Just my luck. "Okay, fine, then give me the knife."

"No problem." He handed it over. "Give me the ammo." I complied. "Let's get out of here."

We spent the next few hours going from house to house, and each house we scavenged in, I tried the phones, with no luck. We ended up getting a pretty good haul of stuff. In total, we ended up with 5 cans of lamb rations, 3 cans of sham, 4 cans of chili, 7 bottles of water, a couple handfuls of coffee grounds, 2 more pain relievers, 2 more short iron pipes from ovens, a pair of pants for each of us, a cowboy hat, 1 piece of a shotgun which looked to be the barrel, 3 shotgun shells, and a couple of potatoes. The most notable finds were a mining helmet, a book on how to assemble and repair a pistol, and a fireaxe we found in a car trunk.

We had searched 5 houses at that point, and we started talking about long term plans. "We should gather stuff to make a campfire, and I think with everything we need to think about, we should make a forge as well." I had said.

"A forge? Seriously? How the hell would we do that?"

"The same guy I watch on YouTube that made the stone axe also has a video on making a forge. I must have watched it a dozen times as it was just amazing, and I'm pretty sure I can recreate it. Just like you have military skills, I have some skills, too."

And so, without delay, we picked the last house before the airstrip and started gathering rocks. We needed clay as well but we had no shovel, so we dug a bit with our hands, but that proved useless. We gathered some wood with the fireaxe for the fire.

"We should scout around the house to make sure there are no other ways in other than the front one, you know, for security purposes." Sorrow had said, and I agreed. We walked around the house and there was a small section of trees behind it, and through them, we could see other buildings, one of which looked like a another store. We made a note to search that tomorrow.

In the meantime, there was a back door, so while Sorrow was tearing it down, I managed to fashion together a couple of wood frames to act as a blocking point for the doorway. Granted the zombies would be able to see through them, but at least it was some type of obstacle.

We were about to finish off blocking the doorway when we heard a noise. We turned around and that's when we saw…..Oh my god!


	5. Chapter 4 point 5 - Night Preparations

He was a big mother f*cker! He had to be 6 foot 5 and at least 350 pounds. He had a policeman's uniform on, and he was heading straight for us.

I ran up to him with my club out and whacked him in the head. He stumbled for a second and then swung at me, knocking me 6 to 7 feet away. "Ouch, well that hurt!" I exclaimed.

Sorrow readied his pistol and fired a round into his skull. Again, he stumbled, but then he just kept coming. Finally, he stopped for a moment. He grabbed his stomach, leaned back, and then hurled his head forward and shot out fire balls from his mouth at me. I was NOT expecting it, and all 3 fire balls hit me. I was on fire, so I quickly rolled around to put it out.

Sorrow continued to fire, shooting 3 more times at his skull, but the f*cker kept coming.

Then, out of nowhere, we heard a weapon fire, and the cop's head exploded.

Out of the trees came a man wielding a hunting rifle. "Hi-ho!" he said. "Saw you had a bit of trouble there, so I took care of it!"

"Uh, thanks." Sorrow said, scratching his head. This man had on a duster jacket, a mining helmet, and what looked like scrap pants, shirt, and gloves. "I'm Layarion."

"Sorrow, and that's Rizzano." Sorrow offered.

"How long have you guys been here?" He inquired.

"We got here yesterday." I replied. "You?"

"4 days." He said. "I woke up in the forest nearly naked with a backpack with a few supplies."

"Us too!" I exclaimed. "What the f*ck is going on? Who leaves people in the middle of nowhere naked and afraid?" I scratched my head as we heard rustling from the trees. Out jumped a deer who stopped as soon as he saw us. Without blinking, Layarion readied his rifle and fired at the deer, hitting its' heart and dropping it immediately.

"D*man, nice shot man!" Sorrow said.

"Thanks. Hunted all my life as a teen and most my life as an adult, but I never learned to skin a deer's hide or gut one for meat."

I pulled out the Leather Tanning book. "Just so happens I found this yesterday and read over some of it this morning." I tossed it at Layarion and took out my knife, kneeling down to begin the process. I was pretty good at reading stuff and retaining the information right away, so this should be fairly simple. I slowly separated the skin from the flesh, going in a swift but steady motion as the book instructed. After about 10 minutes, I had fully skinned the animal and we had a hide. I handed it out to Sorrow who put it in his pack. I started cutting into the deer's meat, hacking and slicing, pulling apart what edible pieces I could. In total, I ended up getting 5 pieces of meat. I also handed them to Sorrow, but said "You should probably wrap these up in the hide." He did so as I brushed my knees off and put the knife in a pocket on my toolbelt.

"Are you guy settled somewhere?" Layarion asked?

"No," I replied. "That's what we were doing here at this house before that f*cking cop showed up. You?"

"Nah man," he answered, "I have just been kinda going nomad here, moving from place to place, hiding on rooftops at night.

"Well, that doesn't sound very safe or secure. We are making this place our base of operations," Sorrow interjected. "You're welcome to join us, the more people we have the more eyes we have to keep watch in all directions."

"Thanks, I will take you up on that. Better than being alone out here in this god forsaken place."

We all went inside and finished blocking off the doorway. Layarion pulled out a hammer from his backpack and a few pieces of wood he had that were shaped like boards. He also had some nails, and he started nailing the boards to the wood frames, upgrading them if you will, so they were solid.

"Wow, nice man." I said. "That should keep those monsters at bay for a bit."

Sorrow walked over to the kitchen area and starting searching through it. I took the fireaxe and starting breaking apart the old looking sofa that was against the wall. I figured what stuff I could get from it could be used for a fire or something. Sorrow looked at me and nodded. "Good idea." He said, and he started upstairs.

Layarion, wrench still in hand, started taking apart the toilet that was in a little room off of the living room. "Why are you messing with that?" I asked.

He pulled out a couple of pipes. "These." He said, cleaning them off with a piece of cloth. "We need these to make some type of forge."

"How do you know that?" I inquired.

"Guy on YouTube, Primitive Technology I think was the name." Layarion responded.

"Yeah! That's the one! I watched him make coal, a stone axe, a bow and arrows…" I exclaimed.

"Who says the YouTube isn't educational?" Layarion said.

Sorrow came back downstairs. "Found a shovel and a shotgun schematic." He said.

"Nice, you should read that tonight before we sleep. Speaking of which, I'm headed outside to grab some grass and rocks to make a few beds for us and a campfire. You still got that cooking pot?" I asked.

"No, I think you have it" Sorrow replied. Just then we heard this horrific squeal slash shriek outside. It sounded like some kind of freakish bird noise. Layarion peered out the window.

"Uh, there's some type of crawling zombie out there. On all fours, and he's uh, climbing up the walls of the house across the street."

"We should probably kill it before his noises attract more," Sorrow said, reading the pistol. "We got 22 shots in this, but firing might attract more too."

"It's just one zombie, I'll kill it with the spiked club." I said. We all headed outside. Layarion got its' attention so that I was able to sneak up behind it and club it in the skull. It didn't fall and turned toward me. I clubbed it a second time and it just kept coming at me, swiping at me on the stomach. I started bleeding as I clubbed it a third time, finally killing it.

Layarion looked at my stomach. "Use some of that cloth you got from the couch you hacked up and make a bandage." He suggested. I did so, hoping that infection would not eventually set in.

We heard howls in the distance. F*cking dogs. We needed to get back inside but we needed to make a fire and something to sleep on. Sorrow headed behind the house in the direction of the howls and readied his pistol again. "I'll keep watch with the pistol, you two grabd the rocks and grass and be d*mn quick about it."

Night was setting in soon, and Layarion and I hurried up. I figured about 8 or so large enough rocks would make a campfire. I grabbed some wood in the form of branches from the ground to use as fuel, and some moss from a nearby tree to use as kindling. Layarion was busy with grass, "That should be enough." He said. We all three headed back inside.

I started makeshifting the campfire with the rocks. It wasn't ideal to build it inside a building but we needed a fire to cook the meat we had before it went rotten. Layarion and Sorrow started twisting the grass into fibers and shaping them together in a tying pattern to make makeshift beds for the three of us.

I had the campfire situated and added the kindling. Luckily I knew how to start a fire by doing it when I was a boy scout as a kid. It took a bit, but an ember started to form and the fire was going. "Sorrow, hand me your pack. I'm gonna cook this meat up." He tossed it over and I unwrapped the meat from the hide, putting each piece on a stick and holding it over the fire. It wasn't ideal, but it worked for the time being. It would probably end up charred but we needed the sustenance.

Just then we heard a growl outside. It didn't sound like a zombie, more like some type of large animal. The growl got closer, and before we knew it something was attacking the door.

Layarion readied his hunting rifle while Sorrow readied his pistol. I guess I was the lookout because I went to the window to peer through it toward the door. "Holy f*cking sh*t can't we get a break? It's a f*cking bear!"

The door was cracking and breaking as the bear continued to attack it. The meat cooking must have given off too much smell and attracted it.

The door came crashing down and with a heavy growl, the bear entered the house…..


End file.
